


Rodeo

by Kerillian



Series: A Zora's Perseverence [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Cop Sidon AU, Gen, Hylian Prince Sidon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Shape Shifting Sidon, Vigilante Link, acab irl btw, slight body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:07:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24504373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerillian/pseuds/Kerillian
Summary: Link gives Sidon a hard time keeping up.
Relationships: Link & Prince Sidon, Link/Prince Sidon
Series: A Zora's Perseverence [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763404
Kudos: 43





	Rodeo

Sidon was not new to the world of violence. A member of law enforcement in Hyrule city, which was sprawling and abundant in creatures from all walks of life and bearing a spectrum of moral codes, he was bound to see it here. Even life as a Zora was deceptively violent depending on where one grew up, and Sidon thought that he was acclimated to the world of violence much sooner than most. Mipha, who was gentle, soft-spoken and trained each day with her pole-arms, came to mind. She was the kindest person he’d ever known, and even she knew how to swiftly murder somebody with virtually any knife on a stick. Everyone else he knew varied from there.

But even Sidon was seldom privy to the level of brutality he would soon witness Link achieve on a regular Saturday night.

If nothing else, it was a valuable lesson learnt by him that a soft, vulnerable exterior had potential to be the most deceptive trait one could have. 

Sidon feared that he had not yet seen the least of it. Link would upend his life in ways he could never have anticipated, but not before a rude awakening.

His bubble began to burst after a long goose-chase through the night. Sidon watched form a dark corner, shrouded and form changed by Zelda’s amulet, still bearing a cool glow that seeped through his clothes. His joints still tingled with echoes of the freezing pain that the magic inflicted, but he could shake it off for a while.

Now, it only served to lock him in place as he watched Link pressed against the brick wall of a warehouse, his neck bent and offered to the stranger he embraced in the darkness. 

There was movement cast by their silhouettes, the shape of Link’s hand that crept up behind the man’s head, the harsh pull of their bodies closer to one another. Slivers of moonlight draped Link as the man hoisted him up against the wall, hands gripping the meat of his inner thighs as he pried Link’s legs open. The light only revealed the vague shape of the man’s hand, illuminating its position where it groped the boy’s backside, the rest of him remaining a shadow between the buildings.

Sidon didn’t want to watch this. It bittered his tongue, it felt like the light sheen of sweat on his brow turned to slime the longer he observed. 

_“Do not lose him.”_ Echoed the words of his captain in the back of his mind. 

_“You’re a righteous sort, I know, you’ve got absolutely nothing to prove to me. His proclivities do not interest you. But whatever you do, do not look away.”_

Sidon’s stomach crawled as a soft moan reached his ears - he keenly knew it to be Link’s voice. He still managed to find solace in that he was temporarily Hylian, not a Zora, or he’d be hearing even the finer details of what was going on between the two before him.

The passionate aura of their encounter stuttered. Just barely, Sidon could make out the swell of the man’s shoulders stiffening.

His hand ghosted his taser. 

The man raised his voice and grew terse, and Sidon’s hand settled on his gun instead.

Just as he slid it from its holster, aiming it up, ready to yell his endlessly rehearsed script, their bodies abruptly split from one another. He heard one make contact with the ground, and he took a step forward into the light.

The shape of a knife-handle stuck out of the man’s back. The light that outlined their shape now bounced off the blood pooling near the man’s head on the concrete. 

“Freeze!” Sidon boomed, his firearm aimed squarely at Link. He hoped he wouldn’t notice his finger wrapped around the trigger guard.

The magic in his joints quivered and froze him up as Link’s eyes swept up to meet his, glowing in the darkness where he crouched over a fresh corpse. 

Sidon stood his ground, staring right back, suppressing a gasp of discomfort as he felt Zelda’s magic rattling his bones. He felt that Link’s mere presence excited it, and the wilder it got inside him, the sicker he felt. There was so much he wished he’d asked Zelda before now, but it was all suppressed by the burning adrenaline fighting the chill that overran his body.

Link rose from the concrete, slow and unblinking as Sidon took a step forward, aim fixed on Link, though no closer to pulling the trigger.

“Show me your hands! Up where I can see them!” Sidon barked, gesturing up with his chin.

They rose either side of Link, his hips shifting, pale head tilting as he watched Sidon take another step.

One moment of stillness passed before a flash of green light gathered in Link’s grasp, his hands sweeping down across his body as magic enveloped him. Green for Farore, a gift of swiftness that let him turn heel and sprint out of the darkness in the blink of an eye.

The sweat on Sidon’s brow went ice cold as his face flushed with searing heat, adrenaline overpowering the chill in his bones. He saw a glimpse of Link turning the corner of the far side of the building, and his legs carried him as fast as they could as he leapt over the man’s body on the ground. 

Sidon holstered his gun as he rounded the corner and spied Link climbing a fire escape with terrifying speed, and he dared not freeze when Link stopped to look back at him with those glowing eyes. The faint green glow that enveloped him kept him visible in the shadows, and Sidon hastened to the bottom of the fire escape before Link could cover more distance.

He was still half way up the fire escape when he heard the thunderous rattle of Link sprinting across the roof, his body burned and he growled with exertion as he doubled his pace up the step ladder.

Just as he reached the top, the sharp slam of Link’s feet hitting another roof as he leapt a narrow jump to the next building rang into the night. Sidon did not stop to rest, wind howling in his ears as he gave chase. His eyes were fixed on Link as he ran after him on the corrugated iron, creating a great deal more noise than Link had done. People were going to hear this racket all over the docks, but Sidon’s duty bound him to this. 

A glimmer of hope filled him when he saw Link stop and waver at the end of the next building, trapped for all Sidon knew, affording him precious moments to gain on him.

He vaulted drop between the buildings, ready to dive in and grab hold of that blond bastard when he was close enough.

Sidon blanched and cursed aloud when Link took one look back at him and threw himself off the edge of the building.

“Link!” Sidon yelled after him, sliding to a stop at the edge of the building where he had thrown himself, only to see him sliding down the outer cage of another fire escape. 

Frustration swept Sidon’s terror away as he shook his head in disbelief, and he clumsily took off down the outside of the escape with far less grace than Link had possessed. 

His feet hit the ground, his enchanted lungs burning, and he could see Link making his way closer to the entrance to the docks. ‘No, no, for gods’ sake _no--_ ’ He whispered to himself.

It was no sooner than he had reached the corner of the entrance that the sound of an engine roaring to life reached his ears, filling him with dread. Link looked over his shoulder at him, looking back to the road as he peeled off the roadside on a stolen motorcycle. He took off into the distance, leaving Sidon to gawk on the sidewalk. 

“ _Damn it!_ ” He cried, his voice smothered by the roar of the motorbike echoing off the bricks and asphalt.

Sidon stilled, holding his arms either side of him. He sucked in hard, deep breaths, clenching and unclenching his fists, looking around for his car.

He couldn’t endanger Link by chasing him on the road, but losing him was still not an option.

“Think, think think think, Sidon, think.” He repeated as he located and sprinted towards his car, swinging into the cab and slamming the door shut as he wrenched the ignition and burned rubber, taking off after Link.

The road kept him close to the water, though the further he drove from the dock warehouses the more populated it became. 

He began to weave past cars on the road, ignoring the vehicles that sounded their horns as he sped through a red light. Sidon’s eyes frantically flew between the road and the sidewalk, zeroing in on any two-wheeled vehicle he could find on the roadside while keeping his eyes peeled for a helmetless blond head.

Sidon almost missed the toppled motorcycle on the sidewalk, also then narrowly missing pedestrians as he skidded into a pier littered with tourists.

Ambling tourists stared and gasped beside him as he pushed his way through the crowds, hyperfocused on Link and only Link, mumbling apologies wherever the reflex kicked in. 

Just as exhaustion threatened to settle in and hinder his vision, Sidon locked onto a thin form clinging to the outer structures of a small cruise ship leaving the pier, looking high and low before disappearing into the deck.

Sidon raked his hands down his face, though he was not quite at the end of his rope. He fisted the amulet under his clothes, tugging on it disdainfully while time ran out to decide what he would do.

He pushed through the crowds again, seeking lightless cover away from them. Sidon reached the rocky shore beneath the pier and dropped the more expensive parts of his garb into the sand, along with his firearm and electronics for some dubious safe-keeping. 

Bearing only his essentials, Sidon grasped the magical amulet hanging around his neck and pressed the pads of his fingers to the jewels embedded into it, and they chilled sharply against his skin, faintly glowing as power surged through the amulet into his hand.

It worked with abrupt force. Sidon’s voice left him as pain surged through his body. It felt as bad as it had when he used it the first time earlier tonight, and it was getting worse by the second. The pain was overwhelmingly brutal, and what he thought was a highly unpleasant experience the last time he used it to turn back into a Zora felt like a lover’s embrace compared to this. Bones snapped and cracked under his morphing skin, his eyelids slammed shut when his eyeballs melted and morphed inside his skull. He would scream if his voicebox wasn’t crackling and expanding in his throat, muscles bloating and stretching as his form grew larger, his stiff Hylian spine warping his back as it grew and twisted back into shape.

Sidon began to panic, worrying that he’d made a mistake, fearing that a hellishly painful death was imminent.

Right when he was on the brink of blacking out, he found himself collapsed on wet, muddy sand, the cool water lapping at his skin. He looked at himself, saw a familiar shade of red, and gave cursory touches to each fin he’d regained, dragging himself into the water to tail the ship that was still in sight.

The water was a balm on his sore body, though, and his clumsy movements in the water soon streamlined as he slid right back into the comfort of his true form. Any time he wasted laying stunned under the pier was gained right back with his speed, which mounted as he neared the vessel.

Even the faintest lights on the vessel were visible to him from the murky depths of the water as he locked on and compressed himself, releasing his energy and propelling himself towards the surface. The lights grew brighter before him, the roar of the water fell away when he broke the surface and soared into the air, making hard contact with a roof on the vessel.

He rolled to soften the landing, but he still heard gasps beneath him. The startled passengers seemed not to care too much after a while, and Sidon took the time this lull afforded him to use the amulet again. 

Sidon refused to give himself time to psych himself out of it, and as the transformation took place again, each grueling snap and crack felt in reverse, he wobbled where he crouched on the roof. The change back was less painful, but Sidon floundered in place, ripped and wet underclothes sticking to his shivering body, gagging and spluttering and holding back some of the louder coughs and lurches that wracked him.

Unseeing, unfeeling, he tumbled off the edge of the roof, only just managing to grab hold of the railing before he fell back into the water. He climbed back aboard, blessed with the fortune of having this part of the deck to himself.

Sidon stalked and hid himself as best as he could, the chill in his bones coming back as it had before he chased after Link on the docks. It had to be guiding him - it disappeared when he got further from Link earlier in the night. He desperately hoped that the colder and more unpleasant it got, the closer he was to Link.

He turned the corner into a quiet spot behind some crates, and there was Link, who seemed to register him much slower than Sidon was used to. Perhaps he’d let his guard down when he thought he was safe on this charter.

Link cried out as Sidon tackled him, kicking and screaming and writhing in his grasp as Sidon worked to overpowered him. 

He was pressed to the ground on his stomach, still fighting weakly as Sidon cuffed his hands behind his back. He looked shocked more than anything, though no questions or even any words left his mouth. 

“No more running, Link.” Sidon rasped, finally catching some real air for the first time since the boy fled.

“Promise? No more giving me the slip?” He told Link again, grip held tight on his arms and body bearing down on top of him.

Link nodded slowly, glaring at the metal wall beside them. 

He looked and felt completely tuckered out beneath him, but Sidon didn’t dare loosen his grip.

“I’m taking you to the bridge, and I’m going to call a boat out to pick us up. You _will_ behave, won’t you?”

Link’s glare soured even further. Sidon didn’t want to make him feel mocked, but talking to him without losing his patience was incredibly difficult. He kept his voice tight and professional, for lack of any other way to stay calm.

Sidon placed his trust in Link as he eased back, giving him space to find his feet as he pulled him up off the floor.

So far, so good as they progressed through the metal corridors and ascended to the bridge. Link was docile as a lamb, much to Sidon’s relief.

He knocked on the door to the control room, praying that this would all go over quickly.

The crew member who answered the door took one look at the two of them and frowned.

Before he opened his mouth, before Sidon could react, Link bowed forward, and slammed the back of his head into Sidon’s chest.

Sidon was stunned by the air knocked out of him. He tightened his grip again and held onto Link for dear life as the boy thrashed and shrieked at the top of his lungs, 

The man jumped and stood back, now on alert. “What the fuck is going on here? What are you doing to him?” He yelled at Sidon.

“I’m a police-- ugh!” He stuttered, dodging Link’s wild attempts to trip him, tip him back, whatever he could to wriggle free. “I’m HCPD!” He got out just as he slammed Link into the wall beside the door, holding him down with his body weight.

Sidon freed up a hand to fish his badge out of a sodden satchel, flashing it to the man who didn’t know whether to run back into the bridge or intervene.

“Call a police boat! Tell them Rutela needs help with the little bastard!”

The chaos eventuated to the two of them receiving a spot in the bridge to wait while Sidon’s backup arrived, ship security arriving to help in subduing Link.

“Sidon thanked a staff member that brought him a towel to drape over his cold, wet body. He sat back while the man sanitised a nasty bite mark Link had left on him during the scuffle.

Sidon cast his eyes across the room to Link, who sat and stared at the floor between his legs, handcuffed to the wall, unresponsive to any questions asked of him.

Sidon shouldn’t have felt bad after the trouble he went to tonight, but seeing Link cuffed to a wall twisted him inside. He wondered how long Link spent his younger years like this, and worse. There was no telling what the effect on him was from here. He wouldn’t speak, he wouldn’t sign. Link just sat there, motionless and deflated.

There had to be a better way than this. Link wasn’t afraid of what would happen to him. 

He killed someone tonight. He might go directly back to jail for this, but he’s already _been_ there. He’s already been kidnapped and exposed to gods know what. Going to an adult prison won’t be anything new to him.

Sidon’s pulse hiked. He stared Link down in silence as his mind raced.

To the detective’s dismay, Link jumped when Sidon crossed the floor to take his spare towel and drape it around his shoulders. That Link should have any reason to be suspicious of him hurts him, but he’d rather deal with it than sit around feeling sorry for him. 

“I shouldn’t have chased you,” Sidon murmurs beside him, a facade of stern lecture belying his words to any onlookers around them. “I’m sorry.”

He sees how Link tries not to perk up. He’s still mad at everyone and everything around him, but he’s listening, he’s doing something he doesn’t want anyone else in here to see.

It’s a small albeit gratifying step in the right direction.

“Now… Link.” Sidon bit his lip, treading with care.

“You could go on the police boat back to another dock, where crowds of people won’t be there to see you getting dragged into a police car. Then they’ll throw you into a cell overnight.”

Link looked away, it was clearly the same old routine to him.

Sidon frowned visibly as he continued to speak.

“Or you can go with me, without handcuffs, and behave yourself while we walk back to my unmarked car. You won’t spend the night in a cell, but you’ll have to come see me at the department in the morning.”

Link’s eyes fluttered to different parts of the floor.

“It’s your choice. The boat will be here soon.”

Time stretched while Link thought on it. Control got a call from the police boat, and Sidon worried Link would keep his plans to himself.

Just as Sidon got off the phone to the officers waiting in the boat, he glimpsed Link pointing to him from inside his towel.

Sidon’s heart jumped. So be it, then.

The ride back to the pier was short, but Link managed to make time crawl by as he repeatedly looked up at his face. Maybe he was suspicious, maybe he was hopeful, but it wigged Sidon out. 

“ _Stop._ ” He muttered, 

Link sat back and threw his head over the seat.

They were let off the boat after the officers checked thrice if Sidon was totally sure he wanted to take Link back himself. He calmly answered them each time, yes, _yes_ he was sure. 

The boat was out of sight when Sidon took them on a detour to get the things he left under the pier. His clothes were untouched, the sand away when he picked them up and dusted them off. His firearm and taser may not have been so lucky.

He turned to Link, who stood there with his hands on his hips.

‘Are we going somewhere quiet?’ He signed. Link’s meaning was deliberate, and Sidon wasn’t quite so naive that it flew over his head. It just happened that he was so preoccupied with his plan that he did not have time for Link’s game.

“Sure are.” He said, sliding into his uniform but keeping the Zoran headwear folded in his arms.

Link’s brow rose, and his smile turned a touch sardonic. 

“Come on.” Sidon told him. 

To his relief, Link did as he was told. The crowds were not so plentiful now that the last set of ferries and charters left according to their timetables, and there was nobody around to recognise them from when each of them rushed into the pier.

Sidon looked back only twice, the chill of magic telling him of Link’s proximity, and found that Link’s eyes had never left him all the way back to his car. 

He piled Link into the back seat and shut the door behind him, slipped into the front and made a u-turn back towards the docks.

When they finally stopped, Link looking around in confusion, Sidon had to take a levelling breath.

This would be a first for him.

“Link,” He spoke, diverting the boy’s attention from the windows back to him.

Then he signed to him.

‘Who am I putting in my trunk?’

Link stared. His hands moved slowly.

‘Paedophile.’

Sidon locked him in the car and disappeared into the darkness of the warehouse docks.


End file.
